The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 12 November 2021 | |||
Studio |
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Length | 39:50 | |||
Label | Transgressive | |||
Producer | Damon Albarn | |||
Damon Albarn solo chronology | ||||
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Damon Albarn chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Nearer the Fountain,More Pure the Stream Flows | ||||
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The Nearer the Fountain,More Pure the Stream Flows is the second solo studio album by British musician Damon Albarn,best known as the frontman of Blur and Gorillaz. [1] It was released on 12 November 2021,by Transgressive Records. The album's title is derived from the poem "Love and Memory" by John Clare. It is Albarn's first solo album since 2014's Everyday Robots . It was originally planned as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland,but Albarn expanded the project into a full-length album during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. [2]
The album produced five singles:"The Nearer the Fountain,More Pure the Stream Flows","Polaris","Particles","Royal Morning Blue" and "The Tower of Montevideo".
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 7.5/10 [3] |
Metacritic | 80/100 [4] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [5] |
The Daily Telegraph | [6] |
Financial Times | [7] |
The Guardian | [8] |
The Independent | [9] |
The Irish Times | [10] |
NME | [11] |
Pitchfork | 7.3/10 [12] |
The Times | [13] |
Uncut | 8/10 [14] |
The Nearer the Fountain,More Pure the Stream Flows was met with favourable reviews from critics. At Metacritic,which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications,the album received an average score of 80,based on 17 reviews. [4] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.5 out of 10,based on their assessment of the critical consensus. [3]
In his review for The Guardian ,Alexis Petridis wrote,"for all its exhausted,preoccupied darkness,The Nearer the Fountain is a genuinely beautiful album." [8]
Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Mojo | The 75 Best Albums of 2021 | 43 | |
The Sunday Times | 25 best albums of 2021 | 4 | |
Uncut | The Top 75 Albums of the Year | 41 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows" | 5:00 | |
2. | "The Cormorant" |
| 4:21 |
3. | "Royal Morning Blue" |
| 3:12 |
4. | "Combustion" |
| 2:53 |
5. | "Daft Wader" |
| 3:28 |
6. | "Darkness to Light" |
| 2:59 |
7. | "Esja" |
| 3:41 |
8. | "The Tower of Montevideo" |
| 4:19 |
9. | "Giraffe Trumpet Sea" | Albarn | 1:51 |
10. | "Polaris" |
| 4:45 |
11. | "Particles" | Albarn | 3:21 |
Total length: | 39:50 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
12. | "The Bollocked Man" | 23:27 |
Total length: | 63:07 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
11. | "Particles" (song ends at 3:21, followed by 0:30 of silence; includes a hidden track called "Huldufólk", which begins at 3:51 and has a length of 19:09.) | 23:00 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "The Bollocked Man" | 3:46 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows" (live at Union Chapel) | 3:51 |
2. | "The Cormorant" (live at Union Chapel) | 2:49 |
3. | "Royal Morning Blue" (live at Union Chapel) | 3:49 |
4. | "Daft Wader" (live at Union Chapel) | 2:54 |
5. | "Darkness to Light" (live at Union Chapel) | 2:20 |
6. | "The Tower of Montevideo" (live at Union Chapel) | 4:04 |
7. | "Polaris" (live at Union Chapel) | 3:58 |
8. | "Particles" (live at Union Chapel) | 3:19 |
9. | "Beetlebum" (live at Union Chapel) | 4:11 |
10. | "Under the Westway" (live at Union Chapel) | 4:15 |
11. | "Sweet Song" (live at Union Chapel) | 4:08 |
12. | "El Mañana" (live at Union Chapel) | 3:57 |
13. | "For Tomorrow" (live at Union Chapel) | 5:54 |
14. | "Tender" (live at Union Chapel) | 3:56 |
15. | "Girls & Boys" (live at Union Chapel) | 4:33 |
16. | "The Universal" (live at Union Chapel) | 3:45 |
Total length: | 61:43 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows" (instrumentals) | 5:11 |
2. | "The Cormorant" (instrumentals) | 4:23 |
3. | "Royal Morning Blue" (instrumentals) | 3:16 |
4. | "Daft Wader" (instrumentals) | 3:29 |
5. | "Darkness to Light" (instrumentals) | 3:10 |
6. | "The Tower of Montevideo" (instrumentals) | 4:21 |
7. | "Polaris" (instrumentals) | 4:49 |
8. | "Particles" (instrumentals) | 3:20 |
Total length: | 31:59 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "The Bollocked Man" (bonus track) | 3:46 |
2. | "Love & Memory (Recited by Damon Albarn)" (bonus track) | 3:44 |
3. | "Huldufólk" (bonus track) | 19:10 |
Total length: | 26:40 |
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [19]
Musicians
| Technical
Art
|
Chart (2021) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [20] | 37 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [21] | 13 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [22] | 8 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [23] | 48 |
French Albums (SNEP) [24] | 15 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [25] | 35 |
Irish Albums (OCC) [26] | 24 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [27] | 32 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [28] | 5 |
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [29] | 61 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [30] | 20 |
UK Albums (OCC) [31] | 7 |
UK Independent Albums (OCC) [32] | 1 |
Damon Albarn is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is the frontman and main lyricist of the rock band Blur and the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual band Gorillaz.
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